CLEVER POLICE WORK.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 227, 25 September 1929, Page 21

CLEVER POLICE WORK.

ROZELLE SHOOTING CASE.

HOW SUSPECT WAS ARRESTED DETECTIVE AS A "DRUNK." (From Our Own Correspondent.) SYDNEY, September 10. It was Detective-Inspector J. T. son, a police officer, who speut most of his youth in New Zealand, who had charge of investigations which led to the arrest of the man suspected of shooting Constable Grenham at Rozelle. He followed the line of flight of the fugitive, seeking a clue, and found what the other police Jiad overlooked—a pair of pince-nez spectacles in a case, on the material of which was stamped the name of an Auckland optician. It was the only clue to the identity of the bandit, who, but for this, made a clean getaway. Early next morning—Saturday—the glasses* were tested for finger prints, with a positive result, and then taken to an optometrist for examination. He was able to give the police, within an hour, the formula of the prescription from which the glasses were made. This information, together with the name of the Auckland optician, was cabled to the Auckland police, and they, working with commendable speed, were soon able to ascertain from the optician the name of the man to whom the glasses were supplied, and from other sources to establish his description and the fact that he had left New Zealand for Sydney about two months ago. Cables passed between the two police departments for days until the New South Wales detectives found themselves in possession of a series of most useful clues, due to the excellent co-operation extended from New Zealand. Man Seen in Balmain. At the outset the police Knew absolutely nothing of the identity of the bandit beyond a few conflicting descriptions of a skeleton nature; but with the information sent from New Zealand they began to search for a definite suspect, armed with his description, and knowledge of his habits and several other important aspects of his personal life. Special posses of detectives were set aside to gather up the scattered ends of the several skeins and by Friday night they were hot on the trail. So hot, in fact, that one squad had selected a suspect and traced him to Balmain. In a street there one detective left the police car and endeavoured to approach the suspect. But the suspect was on his guard, obviously, for it could be seen that he subjected every stranger to the closest scrutiny. It had to be remembered also that if he was the wanted man he might be armed and still desperate. It was here that Detective Sedgwick displayed initiative by feigning drunkenness. Reeling round a corner into the street along which the suspect*must pass, he gave a commendable imitation of a man hopelessly under the influence. True to type, he picked an argument with che first drunken man he saw, and they stood wrangling and embracing each other, while the suspect, quite unaware of the trap, approached leisurely, interested in the little comedy being staged in his path. A Surprising Metamorphosis. Sedgwick started to wrestle in a feigned, drunken mauner with the '"'drunk, ,, and lurched toward the suspect. Then he tore himself free from the other's grasp, threw his hands in the air and frothing at the mouth, cannoned into the suspect. The latter was still unaware of his identity, but Sedgwick suddenly changed from drunken uselessuess to sober efficiency, dropped his arms round the suspect so as to imprison his hands and held him thus until the other detectives rushed up in the police car. The suspect was in the car and away before anyone in the street was aware of what had happened, and the "drunk," who had p'layed, unknowingly, a major part in the arrest, stood stupidly shocked at the metamorphosis of his bibulous companion. At police headquarters the suspect was questioned at length and subsequently charged with robbery under arms and shooting at Constable Grinham. On all sides the arrest is acclaimed as a triumph of scientific detection, and the Sydney police are unstinted in their praise of the help given them in New Zealand, without which they must still have been at a loss as to the identity of the suspect.